Tesco has appointed John Allan as chairman following Robert Broadbent’s decision to step down in October last year. 

Allan, chairman of Barratt Developments, will join the board and be appointed chairman on 1 March 2015 and Broadbent will step down from the board on the same date.

Broadbent said: “I am delighted that John has agreed to join us and take on the role of chairman of the board. I am sure that his wide expertise, his experience and his personal qualities will contribute greatly to the future of the group.”

Patrick Cescau, senior independent director, said: “Following a deep and thorough process run by a committee of independent non-executive directors, the board unanimously agreed that John Allan was the right candidate to chair Tesco at this important time.

“On behalf of the board I would like to thank Richard for his work as chairman. He has served the business with unflinching commitment through a period of unprecedented change, and put in place a new senior leadership team for the next stage of Tesco’s development.”

Allan said: “I’m very pleased to be taking on this role at such a critical moment for the business and look forward to working with the new executive team and the board.”

His experience includes marketing roles with Lever Bros and Bristol-Myers and eight years at Fine Fare, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods, where he was the retail director for marketing. He was a divisional chief executive at BET for nine years, chief executive of Ocean Group and then of Excel when Ocean Group merged with NFC in 2000.

Following that, Allan became chief financial officer of Deutsche Post and then chairman of Dixons Retail, Barratt Developments and WorldPay.

Upon his appointment to the Tesco board, Allan will step down from all current roles, although is expected to continue as chairman of Barratt Developments and WorldPay.

Topics